Combination cooking range, table, and cabinet



June 16, 1936. E v L T N 2,044,154

COMBINATION COOKING RANGE. TABLE, AND CABINET Original Filed Nov. 25,1930 5 Sheets-Sheet l m ll- June 16, 1936- E V COULSTON 2,044,154

COMBINATION COOKING RANGE, TABLE, AND CABINET Original Filed Nov. 25,1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 16, 1936. Y E, v, COULSTON 2,044,154

flvvavraxa- EARL l/coaasm/v Patented June 16, 1936 COMBINATION COOKINGRANGE, TABLE, AND CABINET Earl V. Coulston, Shaker Heights, Ohio,assignor A to Crown Stove Works, Cicero, 111., a corporation of IllinoisApplication November 25, 1930, Serial No. 498,044 Renewed September 3,1935 Claims.

My invention particularly-relates to improvements in devices of theabove character that will afford convenient and eflicient cookingoperations; provide a convenient working table top 5 and amplematerial-storage space; occupy a minimum of space; and can beeconomically and safely utilized.

Taking up the above-mentioned improved structural features andadvantages somewhat 1o more in detail, my improved cooking range isdesigned to be a Well-balanced and attractive piece of furniture which,when suitably finished, will add to the decorative features of the homefar better than the present styles of one-sided or 15 unbalanced.designs. My improvements also eliminate dark and inconvenient cornersfound in many present designs of ranges, and hide from view anyunsightly cooking spaces. ihe improved range'also provides a convenientworking table, even. when the range is in operation, and furtherpresents a working table of increased area when the range is not inoperation. This working area when the range is in operation varies insize according to whether one or both of the cooking sides are beingutilized. This working table top may be porcelain, enamelled, orotherwise suitably finished, and thus presents a sightly appearancewhether or not the actual cooking tops may have become marked ordiscolored from' cooking service. My improved range is of such aconstruction that the sides are so far removed and protected from heatas to permit the safe finishing of the same with inexpensive finishes;finishes, for instance, much less expensive than the vitreous enamel nowso widely used. In my improved range all valves and pipes are hiddenfrom view, thus enhancing its appearance as a piece of decorativefurniture. The so range is supplied with liberal drawer and storagecompartments.

All of the above improvements are combined in a structure of unusuallyshort length, thus particularly adapting it to the small size kitchensin modern dwellings. I have also provided improved safety featuresconsisting in means for automatically locking certain hinged top partsin upright position when they afopen, and in 59 means for automaticallyturning off the heating medium when it is desired no longer to use therange for cooking purposes and the hinged tops are turned down to coverthe cooking tops.-

These improvements and others of a detailed 55 character appear in theaccompanying drawings a working table top;

and will be clearly apparent therefrom in combination with the followingdescription.

The annexed drawings and the followingdescription set forth in detailcertain means embodying my invention, such disclosed means con- 5stituting, however, only a few of the various forms in which theprinciple of the invention may be embodied.

In said annexed drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved range, showing one of thehinged cover members in open upright position, this cover member beingdesigned as a cover for one of the heating element sides of the rangeand also as a part of Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section, takenin the plane indicated by the line 2--2, Figure 3, some parts beingbroken away;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the improved range as it appears in Figure l;I

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical section, taken in the planes indicatedby the line 6-4, Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary transverse vertical section, showing amodified form of construction for automatically turning off the heatingmedium; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary transverse vertical section, showing amodified form of means for automatically holding the hinged covermembers in open upright position.

Referring to the annexed drawings, in which the same parts are indicatedby the same respective numbers in the several views, my improved rangeconsists of a rectangular skeleton base i of angle iron, or band iron,or other suitable materials, supported upon suitable legs 2; Upon thisbase i are erected vertical side members 3, a back plate l, and askeleton front frame consisting of an outer rectangular member 91,uprights H, and cross-members ill and I2, arranged to accommodate hingedside doors 5, 6, l, and 8, and hinged center doors l3 and M. The upperside doors 6 and B are provided with louvers l5. Spaced from the sidewalls 3 are spaced pairs of upright in-= terior walls l6 and H which arerespectively spaced to provide an air space, or this space may be filledwith insulating material It, such as indicated in Figure 2. These wallsl6 and I! are continued over the center top part of the range and, infact, are in horizontal alignment with the cooking areas above the sideportions of the range,

within which areas are mounted the grid plates 38. It is evident thatthe walls 3 and -l6|1' form two side chambers and a central chamber, and.in my improved construction, these side chambers are utilized asheating element and storage chambers, and the central chamber isutilized as an oven compartment and a broiler compartment. To effect thedivision of the side chambers, I provide upon one side of the range twopairs of spaced angular bars l9, one pair mounted upon the base ring I,and one pair secured to the walls 3 and IS, which bars l9 form supportsfor drawers 20 immediately within the front door 5 and the lower part ofthe front door 6. Above the top drawer 20 I mount a partition 24 whichdefines a heating element chamber between said partition 24 and thecooking grid 38. Such an upper heating element chamber is provided uponboth sides of the range and these chambers are furnished with heatingelements, shown for purposes of illustration in the accompanyingdrawings as gas burners 25, communicating respectively with heatingmedium branch conduits 59 and 60. Within the other side chamber I mounta partition 2|, which defines a lower chamber 22 and an upper chamber23, which can be utilized for miscellaneous storage and which arelocated adjacently within the lower side door 1 and the lower part ofthe upper side door 8.

Further interior walls 21 spaced from the walls define an ovencompartment 39 and a broiler compartment 32 bounded at the bottom by theplate 34, and these two compartments are separated by the horizontalpartition 26 mounted upon the walls 21 and having an air chamber 26'between its upper and lower surfaces. The oven compartment 30 is furthersubdivided by an adjustable shelf 29 into upper and lower oven spaces,of which the lower is indicated by the number 3| and the upper by thenumber 3|. An adjustable base member 33 mounted upon the walls 21 in thebroiler compartment 32 forms a support for a broiler grid plate 36, thebroiler compartment 32 being provided with the burners 31 located abovethe grid 36 and connected to the heating medium branch conduit 6|.Apertures 62 in the interior walls 21 provide means for the passage ofheat upwardly from the broiler burner 31 through the spaces 63 and intoand through the oven compartment 30 and transversely of the range by thepassage 63' above the oven space 3|, and thence out through the open:ing 35 in the back wall 4.

Hinged to the back wall 4 are side cover members 39 and 49 for the sideburner compartments. There is also a cover member 4| for the ovencompartment, these covers 39, 40, and 4| being independent and somewhatlongitudinally spaced, but being positioned in horizontal alignment andforming, in effect, when they are all closed down, a continuous workingtable top. The central cover member 4| may or may not be hinged, and theside cover members 39 and 40 may be removable from the actual cookingsurfaces by means other than hinges but, for purpose of illustration andas showing my improvements in the preferred form, I have shown the sidecover members 39 and 40 as being hinged and the central cover member 4|as being permanently fixed. .The side cover members, of course, areraised so as to expose the burners 25 and grid plates 38 when it isdesired to use either or both of the side burners, the central covermember 4|, together with one of the side covers, if both side burnersare not in use, providing a working table top. This working table top isat the most convenient height for the operator and all three covermembers from which may be formed parts of the top, are substantially inhorizontal alignment. In order that the side covers 39 and 40 mayassuredly stay in upright position, when they are raised, I providelinks 52 and. 53 for each cover member, pivoted respectively at one oftheir ends to the cover, Figure 4, and the range side 3, these links 52and 53 being pivoted to each other at their inner ends and so connectedas to open downwardly, when the cover is lowered, as illustrated bybroken lines in Figure 4. These links 52 and 53 are formed with a slightbias upwardly at their joint so as to 10 insure the holding of the covermember in an upright position by the links, when the cover has beenfully raised to its open position.

In Figure 6 I show a modified form of construction for insuring theholding of the cover 39 15 in open position, which comprises a spring 51secured at one end to the back wall 4 and secured at the other end to aplate 58 upon the cover 39, the spring being arranged to be underconsiderable tension when the cover member 39 is 20 closed.

The heating medium for my improved cooking range may be either electricor gas, and, as above stated, I have illustrated the fixtures thereforin the accompanying drawings as those usual to the use of gas. Two inletconducting pipes 42 and 44 are provided, one adjacent each side of therange and intersecting the back wall 4. In Figure 3 I have shown thepipe 42 as being capped, so that it is assumed that the pipe 44 is 30the one which is being used and which receives the gas from the gasmain. This pipe 44 opens into a rear longitudinal header 50 mounted atits two ends in Ts of which one is shown and marked 64, the pipe 42communicating 35 with the header 50 (not shown) upon the opposite sideof the range. Communicating with these two headers are pipes 65 and 66,which communicate respectively with the branches 59 and 60 which lead tothe side burners 25. Communi- 40 eating with the header 50 intermediateits ends is a pipe 43 which passes outwardly through the back wall 4 andthen downwardly and in through said back wall and forwardly of the rangein a corner of the storage compartment 22 where it 4.3 communicates withthe branch conduit 6| which communicates with the broiler burner 31. Theside burner conduits 59 and 60 are provided with valves 45 and thebroiler burner conduit with the valve 41, as plainly shown in Figures 2and 3. 50

In order to insure the positive turning ofi of the heating medium, whenthe side top members 39 and 40 are in closed position and the sideburners are not being used, I provide means connected to the top members39 and 40 for insuring the turning oil of the heating medium by thelowering of said members. These means comprise a pair of spaced fingers5| secured to the members 39 and 40 adjacently the top thereof, as seenin the open position of the top member 60 39 in Figure 4, which fingers5| are respectively in vertical planes intersecting the handles 46 ofthe valves 45. Thus, when the members 39 and 49 are closed down, thesefingers 5| intersect the handles 46 of the valves 45 and turn these han-65 dies to close the valves, the fingers 5| passing through slots 54 inthe grid plates 38. In this form of construction, the valve 45 must bepositively opened when the top members 39 and 40 are raised and it isdesired again to use the 7 burners..

In a modified form of construction shown in Figure 5, I show other meansfor automatically controlling the gas pipes. These means automaticallyturn on the gas when the top members 75 in broken lines in said figurewill automatically close the valve '58.

I Itwill be noted in Figure 2 that the interior walls li-l'l do notextend vertically upward throughout their entire height but are inclinedsomewhat inwardly. In fact, I show two forms of this wall structure,one, designated by the number 49, upon the left side of Figure 2 andanother, designated by the number 49-, upon the right side of Figure 2.The purposeis the same for both forms of structure and I have shown thetwo forms in order to illustrate two of the various expedients foraccomplishing the purpose. The purpose is to permit the positioning" ofthe burners '25 closely adjacent the interior walls l6 which in turn.permits a substantial reduction in the length of the range, an advantageof ever increasing importance in modern kitchens. Burners with opengrids above them for passage of burnt products require a certain minimumarea of open passageway,- roughly about twice thediameter oi the burner,as has been, determined by laboratory standards and general practice;and of course the burner is centered with relation to this passageway.By means of the structures 49 or 49' I move the position of the opengrid toward the center of the range a distance equal "to half the burnerdiameter, the burner 25 lying in close proximity to the wall i6 adjacentthe bottom oi. the wall section 49 or 49'. Thus the burner is centeredwith relation to the open grid space, which latter is in no way changedor restricted. Obviously the side walls. 3 are drawn in the samedistance and as this shortening of the-range length occurs at both sides01' the range, the total length of the same is thereby much reduced; inactual practice the reduction is from five to six inches.

What I claim is:

1. A cooking range comprising a casing structure having side, front andback walls, interior walls forming a central oven chamber and sidechambers, the latter chambers containing heating elements, said interiorwalls being beveled toward a common center upwardly fromsaid heatingelements, a top for the oven chamber forming a work table, and cookinggrids over the side chambers in substantial alignment with said top.

2. A cooking range comprising a casing structure having side, frontandback walls, interior walls iorming a central oven chamber and side 5chambers, the latter chambers containing heating elements, said interiorwalls being offset inwardly and upwardly from said heating elements,

a fixed top for the oven chamber forming a central work table andmovable work table extension 10 tops for the side chambers insubstantially horizontal. alignment with the center table.

3. A cooking range comprising a casing structure having aid front andback walls, interior walls forming a central oven chamber and side 15heating chambers, said interior walls'including spaced insulatedvertical walls and an insulated horizontal wall connecting said verticalwalls, heating elements in the side chambers adjacent said verticalwalls, grids above said heating ele- 2o ments and horizontally alignedwith said hori- "zontal wall, said vertical walls being inwardly beveledfrom a point adjacent the heating elements up to the endsoi saidhorizontal wall, and independent horizontally-aligned top members 25 forsaid chambers, the top members for the heating chambers being movable.and the oven chamber top being fixed.

4. A cooking range comprising a casing structure having side, front andback walls, an interior wall torming with the aforementioned walls apair of cooking chambers, a heating element in one of said chambers,said interior wall being onset away from and upwardly of said heatingelement, a top for the other chamber 35 forming a work table, and amovable top for the first-mentioned chamber adapted to form a. worktable extension substantially in horizontal alignment with said worktable.

5. A cooking range comprising a casing struc- 4o ture having side,front, back and interior walls forming heating chambers, a top structurefor 'said casing structure including a hinged cover for one of saidheating chambers, said cover being movable to open and closed positions,a

stationary heating element in said one heating chamber, a control memberoperative to turn on or shut oil the fiow of a heating medium to saidheating element, and means actuating said control member in oppositedirections upon movement of said cover to open and closed positionsrespectively, said means also serving to hold said cover in openposition.

man v'.,con1.s'ron.

